Area of Interest:

Cultural identity construction, medical anthropology, phenomenology and perceptions of the body, materiality, religious systems, Amish and other Plain anabaptist communities in the Americas, the US South, local music/craft traditions

Education:

BA Archeology, Ancient History. Furman University, Greenville, SC. 2000
MA Folklore, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. 2006

Research & Activities:

Previous  Research:   Ethnographic research examining the dual traditions of unaccompanied ballad singing and documentary work in Madison County, NC as a locus of tradition community-based expressive culture.  This research produced the documentary film "Madison County Project: Documenting the Sound" and was a recipient of the 2008 Graduate Education Advancement Board's IMPACT award.  It was also awarded a grant by the NC Arts Council for distribution to state schools and libraries.  Academic articles relating to this research are currently in submission. 

Current Research:  Current research investigates Amish interaction with and resistance to western biomedical models as a method for addressing questions about bodily understanding. Amish communities are an incredible example of medical pluralism and the core of this research revolves around the newfound cooperation between a cutting-edge genetic treatment/research facility and the Amish settlements it serves in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area.  This work focuses on Amish group identity, understandings of the body, and bodily practice as reflective of epistemological paradigms contrasting those presumed by biomedicine. In conceptualizing the body as the site where social aspects of genetics, culturally produced illness narratives, and social identities interact, this research utilizes ethnographically focused methods to extend and add vital richness to understandings of these closed communities.  In turn, it expands our knowledge of the potential fields of contention in genetic medicine’s interaction with patient populations.